Ahmed is a young Bahraini. Like most Bahrainis, he is naive. On May 7, 2004, Ahmed was
arrested on drug-related charges. He has been imprisoned at the CID headquarters since
then. Ahmed is being treated as a criminal. He is being discriminated against. Ahmed is
being threathened and all his confessions have been extracted under duress. He is not
alone.

There are 64 people held in custody, some of whom have been there for nine months... All
of them have gone on a peaceful hunger strike. All they want is JUSTICE. All they are
seeking is to be put on trial immediately or released on bail until their trial
dates.Since May, Ahmed has lost his job. He did not see his baby daughter who was born
after his wife went into premature labour because of the stress.

Ahmed was picked up from outside his home at 10pm. He did not have a chance to tell his
wife what was happening to him. The first his family knew of his whereabouts was three
days later. In effect, Ahmed was kidnapped by the authorities. Ahmed has suffered the pain
and indignity in silence. In Ahmed's agony is Bahrain's shame. Is anyone listening?

3.20.2005

Celebrate Mother's Day with Ahmed

Tomorrow's Mother's Day in Bahrain.

Please celebrate Mother's Day with Ahmed. Ahmed has been in his cell between four walls awaiting trial for the last 10 months.

I hope Judge Abdulrahman Al Sayed who has not yet looked into Ahmed's case has a mum to celebrate the occasion with her. When he looks into her eyes, I hope he lingers for a few seconds on the thought of having deprived Ahmed's mum of her only son by denying him access to a fair and just trial at a time when he has released people arrested with 350kg of Hashish in their possession.